Passport craziness...

Miami Travel Blog

What a mission getting the passport
was! How the National Passport agency works is that you can call an
automated message system and attempt to make an appointment, luckily you can
call 24 hours a day. So after trying during normal and somewhat abnormal
hours I became desperate, so I started calling them on my way home from going
out...at about 3 am, 5 am and another time at 6...still nothing. So after
drunk-dialing the Passport agency I decide the only way I was going to get it
was to go in person. In the south there are only two regional passport
agencies you can go to, thank god one was in Miami. So on a lovely Thursday I woke
up early (6am) and went downtown, figuring it opens at 8 and I was fine.
I laugh now at the thought.

When I arrived, I saw a line...I
walked around the corner and saw that the line continued with no end in
sight. Yep I did what any girl would do, I started to cry
uncontrollably. Judging by the unsympathetic faces in line this sort of
thing happen before. So I went to the front of the line, after gaining
some composure and asked what time they arrived. With a straight face one
guy said 4am. So that is what time my sister and I got there the next
day. Oh did I mention I was sick, snot running, eyes watering, swollen
shut SICK!! So at 4 in the morning we sat and waited, and waited and waited and
waited some more because they decided they were going to have an emergency
meeting and not open at 8, but at 10!!!

At this point the people arriving
are desperate, so one entrepreneurial bum sold his spot in the front of the
line for $200! Miranda was considering it but didn’t know how long we would be
waiting inside.They ended up not
letting her come inside, so in retrospect she should have sold her spot

As the throngs of people were
getting more irritable, hot and rude, a lady started freaking out. Her
daughter who was about my age was comforting her and telling her it was going
to be ok. Well the lady was hypoglycemic and had thyroid problems and was
about to faint. I gave her gum, Miranda ran and got her juice to try to
raise her sugar level and we walked her out of the hot crowded line, that was
more like a bull pen then a line...so crazy. All the while the security guards
were hassling her to get back in line, and when she sat down...they yelled at
her to get up, I felt like I was in a third world country. After seven long
hours a waiting, I got my passport...and it was delivered Monday.

So word from the wise (yes that would be me)
apply for your passport early to avoid what I had to go through.Stay tuned for more adventures!